1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to an anti-theft product display device for enclosing a retail product box, and more particularly to an anti-theft product display device for enclosing a retail software product box that allows purchasers to have access to product information attached to the product box.
2. Background Art
As with all other types of products, software products require effective product marketing to obtain significant sales. One primary location for product marketing is directly on the product box itself, where the purchaser can read about the features and capabilities of the product while browsing products in the retail store. Software manufacturers know that they have only a limited amount of space on the product box (e.g., the six exterior sides of a conventional box) to provide useful product information, and thus limited amount of time for holding the attention of the purchaser. In order to provide more room for product information that can be read by the purchaser, and thus increase the likelihood of the purchaser buying the product, many manufacturers now use a product box that has multiple product information pages attached to the front of the box below a cover.
FIG. 1 shows this type of product box 100 that is used for storing a software product and displaying documentation about the product. The box 100 has a cover 110 and a body section 120. The body section 120 of the box 100 has six surfaces: the top 125, the bottom (not shown), and four side surfaces. Only the top surface 125 and two side surfaces 150 and 160 are shown in FIG. 1. Each surface of the box 100 is normally used to display information about the product. It should be understood that the box 100 can be of any shape, such as trapezoidal, triangular, etc.
To increase the amount of product information that is provided to the purchaser, the cover 110 is attached along one edge of the top surface 125 of the body section 120. The cover 110 opens and closes over the top surface 125, like the cover of a book. The cover 110 has an inside surface 140 and an outside surface (not shown). Both the inside surface 140 and the outside surface of the cover 110 are used to display product information, but as is clear, this requires the purchaser to be able to open the cover 110 in order to view this information. In most instances there are a number of additional inside product information pages 115 attached between the cover 110 and the top surface 125. These pages 115 also provide further product information, including text and graphics. The more information the manufacturer can provide, the more likely the purchaser is to find features of the product that are interesting, and hence the more likely the purchaser is to buy the software product. As can be appreciated then from the figure, the inside pages 115, the top surface 125, and the inside surface 140 of the cover 110 can only be viewed when the cover 110 is opened.
Retail theft of software product is a substantial problem. Most thieves steal the software product by cutting open the product box and removing the CD-ROM containing the software. Other thieves simply abscond from the store with the entire product box. Manufacturers attempt to deter this type of theft by encasing the software product box (such as shown in FIG. 1) in a bulky, sealed, clear, tough plastic box, conventionally known as a “clamshell” box. The product box is encased in the clamshell during manufacturing. The clamshell cannot be opened without effectively destroying it. This deters the thief from attempting to either hide the product box, or cut open the product box to remove the CD-ROM.
This proposed solution has a number of drawbacks. Chief among them is that the sealed plastic box prevents purchasers from opening the cover 110 and reading the product information on the inside pages 115 and top surface 125 of the product box 100 and on the inside surface 140 of the cover 110. Thus, while the sealed clamshell maybe useful for deterring theft, it completely undermines the marketing effectiveness of the cover 110 and inside product pages 115.
Therefore, there is a need for a device that maintains security protection of a clamshell type product enclosure, while not interfering with the features of the product display box that provide additional product information to the purchaser.